Syracuse, N.Y. -- This is just a crazy thought, but after watching Tiger Woods earlier this week at Atunyote Golf Course just across the Thruway in the Oneida Indian Nation, it hit me that Earl Woods may have been right.

That would be Tiger's dad, who was only too eager to declare to the world that his boy, Eldrick, would ultimately land somewhere between, oh, Isaac Newton and Alexander the Great on any list of the most influential people to ever stroll the earth.

Earl always did insist that Tiger would evolve into so much more than merely the most accomplished golfer who ever lived. He maintained that his son, destined for more than swinging clubs, would use the power created by his golfing excellence to become an overwhelming source of goodness.

And a lot of folks snickered.

Mind you, I haven't completely bought in. Tiger is, after all, is just 33 years of age and more or less locked into his stalking of Jack Nicklaus' all-time record of 18 major championships and Sam Snead's record of 82 PGA Tour victories.

The Associated Press/Rich SchultzIf that day ever does come when Tiger Woods chooses to flex his real financial muscles, what kind of power would he wield?

But . . .

Simply, there may come that time when Tiger Woods uses his vast financial clout to make a minor oracle of his father. Look at that skins game at Atunyote. Shortly after it was announced that Tiger would grace that charity event with his presence, 3,000 tickets -- minimally priced at $330 apiece -- sold out in the relative blink of an eye.

This, for a mere exhibition. This, for a mere exhibition staged during a national economic crisis. This, for a mere exhibition staged during a national economic crisis that has hit Central New York fairly hard.

No matter, though. Tiger, who earns some $100 million a year, came to the Oneida Indian Nation, played a tidy five hours of golf and left behind a $750,000 windfall (net) for the Notah Begay III Foundation, which is overseen by Woods' old college buddy, Notah Begay III.

Just . . . like . . . that. And it made the mind race.

The fact is that when asked to identify the athlete they most like to watch, the majority of professional athletes (and coaches and administrators) declare that Tiger Woods is their man. They respect him. They marvel at him. They are drawn to his majesty.

In short, so many of them -- and celebrities and financiers and politicians and entertainers, too -- would be honored to participate in just about any positive initiative Woods might favor. As such, it's not beyond Tiger's reach to raise a "quick" billion dollars by asking 1,000 of his wealthy admirers to donate a tax-deductible $1 million to a kind of money-generating fund, which he'd use to go about the business of fixing what's broken in our society.

What? Oprah Winfrey or Bill Gates or Michael Jordan or T. Boone Pickens or Brad Pitt or LeBron James or John McCain or Mariah Carey or Alex Rodriguez or Denzel Washington or Barbra Streisand or Mark Cuban or Peyton Manning or Beyonce Knowles or any of those other big hitters out there are going to say "no" to the force that is Tiger Woods? Please. Who would dare?

Now, sure. All of this is sort of far-fetched . . . like, from here to Mars. But only because this kind of project has never been attempted on so large a scale by so compelling a figure as Tiger Woods, who -- aside from the odd Y.E. Yang blip -- has rarely failed along his way to greatness. So why would he falter here?

(Bud Poliquin's freshly-written on-line commentaries, his column and his "To The Point" observations appear virtually every day on syracuse.com. Additionally, his work can be regularly found on the pages of The Post-Standard newspaper. E-mail: bpoliquin@syracuse.com.)